977.311041 
L512* 


THE  LAKE  FRONT  STEAL 


INVOLVED  IN 


THE  ILLINOIS  CENTRAL- 
SOUTH  PARK  CONTRACT 


Address  of  Henry  W.  Lee,  C.  E.,  consulting  engineer 

Greater  Chicago  Federation,  before  U.  S. 

Engineers,  January  13,  1913. 


SYNOPSIS. 

Chicago's  Need  of  Harbor  Facilities. 

The  Best  Uses  of  the  Lake  Front. 

Opinion  of  Gen.  W.  H.  Bixby,  Chief  U.  S.  Engineers. 

Message  of  Mayor  Busse. 

Report  of  Chicago  Harbor  Commission. 

Harbor  District  No.  3  Chosen  By.  City  Council. 

"Chicago   Plan"   Impractical,   Dangerous  and  a  Collusion. 

Proposed  Misuse  of  Small  Parks  Funds. 

U.   S.   Supreme   Court   Decisions  Against  Illinois  Central  Title. 

Park  Act  Drawn  By  Illinois  Central  Attorney. 

Contract  Condemned  By  City  Council. 

Cases  That  Contract  and  Permit  Will  Settle  Out  of  Court. 

One  Hundred  Years  to  Construct  Proposed  Park. 

Probability  of  Voters  Refusing  Bond  Issue. 

Organizations  Opposed  to  Lake  Front  Contract. 

Plans  to  Increase  Railroad  Nuisance. 

Parks    Would    Seriously    Impede  Navigation. 

Lake  Front  Should  Be  Conserved  for  Best  Uses. 


LOCAL  SMALL 
87  ACRES 


"Chicago  Plan,"  a  Scheme  Devised  for  Benefit  of 
Illinois  Central  to  Rob  the  City  of  the  Lake 
Front  for  Ever — Proceedings  Be- 
fore U.  S.  Engineer. 


(From   the   Calumet  Record,   Jan.   16,  1913.) 


Before  Col.  Zinn  Tuesday  a  hearing 
was  held  relative  to  a  permit  re- 
quested by  the  South  Park  board  to 
fill  in  the  entire  lake  front  from  Ran- 
dolph street  to  67th  street.  Arend 
Van  Vlissingen,  on  behalf  of  the  Cook 
County  Real  Estate  board,  protested 
against  Col.  Zinn  presiding  over  the 
hearing,  as  sworn  testimony  is  on  rec- 
ord that  Zinn  had  already  agreed  to 
favor  the  permit,  therefore  the  hear- 
ing before  him  was  as  much  of  a  farce 
as  a  trial  before  a  judge  who  had  al- 
ready decided  the  case. 

Representatives  of  the  Chicago  Plan 
commission,  the  Chicago  Association 
of  Commerce  and  the  Chicago  Real 
Estate  board  favored  the  project. 

As  $2,000,000  local  small  parks 
funds  are  about  to  be  spent  to  build 
a  breakwater  for  the  I.  C.  and  save 
the  road  thousands  annually  in  shore 
protection  and  millions  of  dollars' 
worth  of  public  land  is  also  to  be  given 
to  the  railroad  in  exchange  for  noth- 
ing, The  Calumet  Record  and  its  editor 
have  fought  the  steal  ever  since  it 
first  became  public  in  the  fall  of  1911. 
The  following  is  the  address  of  Henry 
W.  Lee  in  fall: 


Address  of  Henry  W.  Lee,  consulting 
engineer  Greater  Chicago  Federa- 
tion, at  Hearing  Held  Before  Col. 
Geo.  A.  Zinn,  Jan.  14,  1913,  On  Ob- 
jections to  Granting  Permit  to  the 
South  Park  Commissioners  to  Fill 
in  Lake  Michigan  from  Randolph  to 
67th  Streets  for  Park  Purposes. 


Lake  Michigan  is  the  greatest  geo- 
graphical asset  of  Chicago.  Nearly 
every  great  city  in  the  world  is  lo- 
cated at  the  end  of  deep  water  navi- 
gation. Indeed,  it  can  be  readily  seen 
that  this  stragetic  commercial  loca- 
tion is  the  chief  reason  for  the  exist- 
ence of  most  of  the  world's  great  cities 
at  these  points.  The  necessary  and 
most  important  uses  of  Lake  Michi- 
gan and  the  lake  shore  may  be  stated 
as  follows  in  the  relative  order  of 
their  importance,  according  to  many- 
decisions  of  the  Supreme  court  of  the 
United  States,  the  Supreme  court  of 
the  state  of  Illinois  and  various  ex- 
pert authorities:  domestic  uses,  navi- 
gation, fisheries,  sanitation  (sewage 
dilution),  bathing  beaches,  excursion 
boats  and  other  pleasure  boats,  ice, 


skating,  ice  boating,  and  as  a  piece  of 
scenery. 

The  situation  at  Chicago,  America's 
"Great  Central  Market,"  the  world's 
greatest  railroad  center,  the  end  of 
the  Great  Lakes  deep  water  navigation 
and  the  terminus  of  the  Lakes  to  the 
Gulf  waterway, — all  these  conditions 
make  it  necessary  to  provide  at  Chi- 
cago ample  dockage,  harbor  and  ter- 
minal facilities  to  take  care  of  not 
only  Chicago's  own  city  trade  but  also 
the  great  commerce  of  the  country, 
exchanging  between  rail  and  water, 
or  between  large  and  small  vessels 
from  West  to  East  and  vice  versa, 
from  South  to  North  and  from  all 
these  points  via  the  Illinois  and  Mis- 
sissippi rivers  and  the  Gulf  through 
the  Panama  canal  to  the  ports  of  the 
world;  and  by  way  of  the  Great  Lakes 
and  the  proposed  Georgian  Bay  canal, 
or  other  route  for  deep  draft  vessels, 
are  even  greater  possibilities  leading 
direct  to  Europe  and  the  world's  great- 
est commercial  centers,  or  via  the  en- 
larged Erie  barge  canal  to  New  York 
City  and  other  eastern  cities.  Other 
canals  are  contemplated  between 
Lakes  Michigan  and  Erie  and  from 
Lake  Michigan  via  the  Calumet,  Tip- 
pecanoe,  Wabash  and  Ohio  rivers  for 
another  Lakes  to  the  Gulf  route.  The 
Calumet-Sag  channel  is  now  under 
construction,  making  another  connec- 
tion between  Lake  Michigan  and  the 
Drainage  Canal.  These  make  Chicago 
the  focus  of  the  greatest  waterway 
development  in  all  history. 

Thus  it  is  seen  that  by  reason  of  its 
natural  waterways  the  city  was  lo- 
cated here  and.  soon  became  the 
world's  greatest  railroad  center.  Its 
position  at  almost  the  exact  center  of 
population  of  the  United  States,  its 
unequalled  facilities  for  factories  in 
the  matter  of  transportation  by  rail 
and  water,  convenience  of  assembling 
raw  materials  and  distributing  the 
finished  product  to  all  parts  of  the 
country  and  the  world,  and  its  unex- 
celled labor  market — all  these  things 
make  it  the  duty  of  Chicago  to  con- 
serve all  its  necessary  terminal  trans- 
fer, dockage  and  harbor  facilities  not 
only  because  it  is  good  business,  but 
because  Chicago  owes  this  duty  to  the 
nation  as  America's  "Great  Central 
Market."  The  Chicago  Daily  News 


last  Saturday  in  an  editorial  said: 
"Better  harbor  facilities  are  urgently 
I  required  not  only  to  bring  back  to 
Chicago  some  of  its  lost  lake  com- 
merce, but  to  preserve  the  lake  com- 
merce that  is  left  to  us." 

No  one  spot  in  Chicago  can  be 
called  Chicago's  harbor.  This  North 
Side  proposition  is  just  one  unimpor- 
tant item.  The  harbor  of  a  city  is 
the  aggregate  of  all  its  water  terminal 
facilities,  lake,  river,  bay,  etc. 

New  York  City  has  over  three  hun- 
dred docks.  The  city  itself  owns  76 
docks  and  they  are  worth  in  earning 
power  over  $200,000,000.  Baltimore, 
Boston,  Philadelphia,  San  Francisco, 
New  Orleans,  all  these  and  many  oth- 
er cities  have  municipal  docks  which 
are  of  incalculable  value  to  the  cities 
themselves  and  to  the  country  at 
large. 

Chicago's  Harbor. 

Chicago's  harbor  properly  includes 
all  branches  of  the  Chicago  and  Calu- 
met rivers,  the  lake  front,  the  Drain- 
age Canal,  Lake  Calumet  and  a  part 
of  Wolf  Lake — in  fact,  all  the  water- 
ways within  or  adjoining  the  city  that 
are  adaptable  to  practical  use  for 
docks  and  terminal  facilities.  The 
federal  engineer  has  approved  a  sug- 
gestion of  mine  to  the  council  harbor 
committee  that  municipal  docks 
should  be  built  and  maintained  by 
the  city  on  all  of  these  waterways 
with  additional  docks  as  the  city's 
growth  requires  at  intervals  of  three 
to  five  miles  so  that  the  boat  loads 
of  coal,  building  material  or  miscella- 
neous cargoes  can  be  brought  as  near 
the  final  consumer  as  possible,  elim- 
inating a  long  teaming  haul  (the  most 
expensive  of  all  transportation)  and 
obviating  excessive  congestion  at  any 
one  point  or  at  a  few  points. 

For  this  reason  municipal  docks 
were  advised  on  the  rivers,  interior 
lakes  and  channels  and  the  lake  front. 
Take  the  single  item  of  coal  alone — 
it  costs  $3.50  a  ton  by  rail  from  east- 
ern points  to  Chicago.  By  boat  it 
costs  40  cents.  Coal  can  be  brought 
by  boat  a  thousand  miles  almost  as 
cheaply  as  it  can  be  teamed  a  mile 
in  Chicago.  This  will  give  some  idea 
of  the  necessity  of  harbor  facilities 
and  the  criminal  folly  of  any  act  that 


would  destroy  forever  a  great  portion 
of  Chicago's  harbor  facilities. 

The  Best  Uses  of  the  Lake  Front. 

The  highest  and  best  uses  of  the 
lake  front  are  municipal  docks  located 
at  convenient  intervals  for  commerce, 
fisheries  and  the  excursion  business; 
recreation  piers,  bathing  beaches  and 
a  promenade  like  the  famous  board 
walk  at  Atlantic  City,  where  all  the 
people  in  throngs  of  tens  of  thousands 
can  walk  along  the  shore  and  enjoy 
the  lake,  where  the  children  can  play 
in  the  sand — a  most  necessary  feature 
of  all  bathing  beaches,  the  sand  con- 
stitutes almost  as  much  of  a  charm 
as  the  water.  No  expensive  automo- 
bile speedway  is  needed  here,  but 
such  development  as  I  have  described, 
where  all  the  people  can  enjoy  this 
splendid  and  inspiring  recreation 
which  has  been  niched  from  them, 
stolen  and  trespassed  upon  for  sixty 
years  by  the  Illinois  Central  railroad, 
that  "old  man  of  the  sea"  astride  the 
neck  of  Chicago  that  has  not  only 
robbed  this  city  of  its  chief  asset  for 
more  than  half  a  century,  but  that  by 
means  of  a  legislative  enactment 
drafted  by  the  railroad's  own  attor- 
ney, and  now  with  the  assistance  of 
the  StocK  Yards  South  Park  board, 
and  the  accommodating  acquiescence 
of  the  mayor  of  Chicago,  and  the  pend- 
ing consent  of  the  war  department  of 
the  United  States — the  plan  now 
is  to  grant  the  railroad  upwards  of 
67  acres  additional  land,  to  confirm 
its  holdings  which  are  illegal,  and  to 
increase  and  perpetuate  the  barrier  of 
railroad  tracks,  smoke  and  noise  that 
now  senarptes  the  people  from  the 
health  and  life-giving  lake.  This  plan 
would  destroy  the  lake  front  for  all 
its  higheet  and  b°st  us^s  and  reduce 
it  merelv  to  a  piece  of  scenery  for 
fv,-,  <->hi'pf  benefit  of  automobile  speed- 
ers. 

There  will  be  no  place  in  Chicago 
for  lake  front  municipal  wharves  any- 
where near  the  center  of  the  city  if 
this  permit  is  granted.  Beginning  at 
the  Indiana  state  line,  Calumet  park, 
the  E.  J.  &  E.  R.  R.,  the  American 
Smelting  &  Refining  Co.,  and  the  Iro- 
quois  Iron  Co.  occupy  the  lake  front 
to  the  Calumet  river.  North  of  this 
the  Illinois  Steel  Co.'s  plant  extends 


to  79th  street.  From  here  to  75th 
street  is  the  only  stretch  on  the  South 
Side  where  the  people  have  free  ac- 
cess to  the  lake.  A  municipal  bath- 
ing beach  and  several  private  beaches 
are  here.  From  75th  street  to  71st 
street  is  private  ownership — dwell- 
ings. From  71st  street  to  67th  street 
the  South  Shore  Country  club  is  lo- 
cated. 

The  permit  requested  covers  the 
lake  front  from  67th  street  to  Ran- 
dolph street.  It  seems  that  the  first 
permit  did  not  cover  a  wide  enough 
stretch  so  that  more  is  now  required 
even  there.  Perhaps  the  4,000-foot 
strip  will  also  be  increased  lakeward 
by  future  permits  if  the  one  now  pend- 
ing be  granted,  which  Heaven  forbid. 
The  Illinois  Central  terminal  occupies 
the  space  between  Randolph  street 
and  the  Chicago  river.  North  of  the 
river  the  ownership  is  uncertain.  Chi- 
cago Harbor  District  No.  1  is  located 
here,  but  no  progress  is  being  made. 
An  alleged  joker  has  been  tardily 
found  in  the  bill  after  a  ye.ar's  scru- 
tiny. It  has  been  charged  that  even 
here  the  park  authorities  threaten  to 
take  possession.  North  of  Ohio  street 
the  lake  front  is  entirely  taken  up 
with  boulevards  and  parks  with  pow- 
er of  extensions  to  a  point  far  north 
of  harbor  availability. 

This  it  is  seen  that  the  granting 
of  this  permit  would  destroy  forever 
the  highest  and  best  uses  of  the  lake 
front  for  Chicago.  Navigation  with- 
out proper  landing  places  and  ter- 
minal facilities  is  possible. 

Highest    Authority    in    United    States. 

The  truth  is  always  the  truth,  no 
matter  by  whom  spoken.  But  as  great 
names  seem  to  be  able  to  gild  the  lily 
and  paint  the  rose,  I  will  quote  the 
highest  possible  authority  in  the 
United  States  on  this  point.  I  will 
first  quote  from  an  address  made  by 
neneral  W.  H.  Bixby,  now  chief  of 
IT.  S.  engineers,  before  the  Chicago 
Harbor  commission  and  appearing  in 
,the  report  of  said  commission,  dated 
1909.  on  pages  309  to  320: 

"The  main  duty  of  the  war  depart- 
ment in  such  matters  is  to  safeguard 
naturally  useful  waterways  from  be- 
ing abandoned  or  destroyed  or  used 
for  some  other  purpose.  .  .  . 


"It  is  not  specially  the  business  of 
the  war  department  to  show  how  a 
harbor  can  be  built.  .  .  but  .  .  . 
to  see  specially  that  the  areas  useful 
for  such  purposes  are  preserved,  so 
as  to  retain  their  navigable  uses,  to 
retain  their  potentiality  so  that  they 
can  be  used  in  such  a  way  later  on. 

"The  act  of  March  3,  1899,  under 
which  the  war  department  now  acts 

.  .  .  gives  the  Secretary  of  War 
the  power  to  stop  the  construction  of 
anything  which  interferes  with  navi- 
gation or  is  liable  to  interfere  with 
navigation. 

"When  they  (the  federal  govern- 
ment) put  the  breakwater  in  front  of 
Grant  Park  originally  it  was  with  the 
expectation  that  the  piers  and  docks 
of  the  Illinois  Central  railroad  would 
be  gradually  extended  down  south- 
ward, and  just  as  fast  as  boats  wanted 
docks  they  would  build  them'  and  they 
would  all  be  under  the  protection  of 
the  breakwater,  and  after  all  the 
ground  behind  the  original  breakwater 
had  been  used  up,  they  expected  to 
extend  the  breakwater  south,  but  they 
didn't  exactly  know  how  the  condi- 
tions that  obtained  in  the  deed  of 
donation  of  Grant  Park  to  the  public 
held." 

"But  just  because  the  park  occupies 
a  portion  of  the  lake  front,  because 
it  is  there  and  because  it  is  useful 
for  other  purposes,  because  it  is  pleas- 
ant as  a  park  is  no  reason  why  they 
(Chicago)  should  necessarily  sacrifice 
all  the  rest  of  the  lake  front  harbor. 

"Every  engineering  officer  who  has 
been  in  the  district  since  1867  and 
who  came  to  it  from  other  districts 
where  they  have  had  other  boats  and 
other  harbors  in  front  of  them  has 
sided  with  that  original  board,  and 
has  felt  that  if  *  *  *  there  ever 
was  to  be  a  good  harbor  in  Chicago — 
one  that  could  expand  with  the  city 
— it  would  have  to  go  out  into  the 
lake.  *  *  * 

"The  interests  of  all  other  harbors 
on  the  Great  Lakes  are  entitled  to  a 
great  deal  of  consideration  in  any- 
thing that  is  done  in  Chicago.  So 
long  as  the  only  action  in  progress 
is  that  of  using  Lake  Michigan's  nav- 
igable 'waters  for  purposes  of  naviga- 
tion and  commerce,  I  don't  have  much 
to  do  in  my  office  except  look  on. 


*  *  *  But  when  any  one  com- 
mences to  destroy  navigation  possi- 
bilities it  is  my  business  to  protest 
and  to  make  reports  to  Washington 
and  take  any  other  action  as  seems 
proper.  *  *  * 

"The  War  Department  holds  every 
engineer  in  charge  of  districts  re- 
sponsible for  protecting  and  safe- 
guarding navigation  needs  of  the  gen- 
eral public.  That  includes  the  com- 
merce of  the  Great  Lakes  that  wants 
to  come  to  Chicago.  *  *  *  And 
that  department  holds  him  responsi- 
ble for  protecting  all  these  navigation 
interests  in  the  individual  cases  actu- 
ally in  progress  and  in  safeguarding 
them  from  matters  not  actually  com- 
menced but  liable  to  come  up.  When 
I  came  to  look  around  I  found  there 
was  not  a  foot  of  frontage  on  the  lake 
from  Wisconsin  down  to  Indiana 
where  a  man  could  erect  a  legal 
wharf.  He  could  put  it  up  at  his  own 
risk  and  take  his  chances  on  taking 
it  down.  *  *  *  But  I  found  that 
the  Park  Commission,  under  the  act 
of  May  14,  1903,  could  occupy  the 
shores  to  the  exclusion  of  any  one 
else  from  the  Indiana  state  line  to 
about  95th  street;  then  skip  the  Calu- 
met River  front  and  the  Illinois  Steel 
Company's  property,  and  they  could 
then  go  from  north  of  the  Illinois 
Steel  Company's  property,  about  79th 
street,  up  to  Jackson  Park.  You  see, 
they  were  already  occupying  Jackson 
Park.  Then  from  Jackson  Park  up  to 
Grant  Park  there  was  a  place  that 
no  one  was  doing  anything,  and  the 
Park  Commissioners  did  not  have  any 
special  act  authorizing  them  to  step 
in  there.  But  Grant  Park,  of  course, 
was  occupied  and  has  been  for  fifty 
or  sixty  years.  Then  came  the  Mich- 
igan Central  Railroad  piers,  which 
have  been  there  from  olden  days,  but 
they  could  not  spread  them  out  any- 
where or  do  anything  else  with  them. 
And  then  when  you  get  north  of  that 
and  get  to  Indiana  avenue,  from  there 
to  Lincoln  Park  is  a  boulevard,  that 
the  park  controls.  Then  comes  Lin- 
coln Park,  and  beyond  that  they  have 
state  authority  under  an  old  law  to 
go  from  Lincoln  Park  to  Lawrence 
avenue,  and  to  that  extent  they  have 
had  the  authority  and  permission  of 
the  Secretary  of  War.  Then  their, 


6 


:state  authority  authorized  them  to  ex- 
tend all  the  way  up  to  Devon  avenue. 

*  *     *     Now,  this  present  law  comes 
in  and,  of  course,  allows  them  to  go 
anywhere. 

"This  gives  over  thirteen  miles  of 
the  city  front  dedicated  to  park  pur- 
poses and  practically  the  only  length 
that  is  left  available  for.  lake  harbor  is 
five  or  six  miles  between  Grant  Park 
and  Jackson  Park.  That  is  every- 
thing that  is  left.  Now,  if  this  were 
to  be  used,  that  is  the  only  thing  that 
is  left  for  your  next  fifty  or  sixty 
years. 

"Now,  if  there  were  to  be  a  harbor — 
if  that  place  from  Grant  Park  down 
were  ever  to  be  used  for  a  harbor — 
it  would  be  natural  to  expect  the  gen- 
eral government  to  build  a  break- 
water out  there  *  *  *  about  a 
mile  from  shore,  so  that  it  would  be 
practical  to  put  in  anything  that  was 
wanted:  slips  and  docks,  and  make 
any  arrangements  so  that  boats  could 
pass  behind  that  into  the  Chicago 
River.  It  would  be  practical  to  allow 
one  thousand  feet  width  of  strip  along 
the  shcre  next  to  the  Illinois  Central 
to  be  used  for  track  accommodation 
of  all  the  railroads  in  the  city  that 
might  desire  to  reach  these  piers  and 
slips.  There  would  be  room  enough 
in  this 'area  for  nearly  every  railroad 
in  the  city  to  build  its  own  piers  and 
docks  enough  to  take  care  of  its  share 
of  the  general  commerce,  or  for  a  cor- 
poration, a  docks  corporation,  to  go  in 
there  and  do  it,  or  even  the  city  it- 
self could  go  in  and  establish  a  dock 
organization  that  would  be  available 
for  all  railroads  and  other  transpor- 
tation companies.  *  *  *  Now, 
boats  of  all  sizes  could  run  right  in 
there,  the  biggest  on  the  lakes,  no 
matter  how  big,  if  they  get  to  be 
eight  or  nine  hundred  feet  long,  they 
could  get  in  there.  *  *  *  There 
would  be  a  chance  to  do  something. 

*  *     * 

"Chicago  needs  some  kind  of  a  har- 
bor equipped  to  handle  goods,  so  that 
it  will  attract  shipping  instead  of  do- 
ing some  of  the  things  we  have  done 
to  drive  it  away;  and  if  that  is  done, 
I  think  we  will  be  astonished  at  the 
results.  We  have  no  such  place  now 
and  we  cannot  possibly  have  on  the 
Chicago  River.  I  can  name  at  least 


four  reasons-,  any  one  of  which  is  suf- 
ficient to  dispose  of  the  subject.  *  *  * 

"The  question  is,  where  should  the 
harbor  be  placed,  if  it  cannot  be 
placed  in  these  (Calumet  &  Chicago) 
rivers?  The  Illinois  shore  is  limited. 
In  fact,  we  have  no  place  to  put  the 
harbor  that  wilF  do  the  work  entirely 
except  in  the  center  of  the  city,  as 
near  as  possible,  with  approaches  for 
all  railroads." 

I  will  next  quote  from  Part  I  of  the 
Commission's  report  (page  1) :  "The 
Harbor  Commission  created  primarily 
to  consider  the  question  as  to  whether 
any  part  of  the  Chicago  lake  front 
should  be  reserved  for  possible  future 
harbor  uses,  was  not  limited  to  the 
consideration  of  that  one  question. 
The  resolution  creating  it  called  for 
a  comprehensive  study  and  detailed 
report  on  Chicago's  -harbors  and  their 
relation  to  railway  terminals  and 
park  plans.  *  *  * 

"In  1903  and  1907  the  General  As- 
sembly of  Illinois  enacted  laws  au- 
thorizing the  Board  of  South  Park 
Commissioners  to  take  possession  for 
park  purposes  of  that  portion  of  the 
lake  front  lying  between  Grant  Park 
and  Jackson  Park.  Under  these  laws 
that  Commission  was  proceeding  to 
acquire  by  agreement  the  riparian 
rights  of  land  owners,  chief  among 
them  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad 
Company. 

"These  riparian  rights  secured,  the 
Park  Commission  planned  the  devel- 
opment of  park  areas  and  lagoons. 

"Apparently  the  only  thing  needed 
to  complete  the  dedication  for  park 
purposes,  to  the  exclusion  of  naviga- 
tion uses,  was  the  consent  of  the  War 
Department. 

"January  6,  1908,  Mayor  Busse  sent 
to  the  city  council  a  special  message 
calling  attention  to  the  legislation  re- 
ferred to  and  the  plans  of  the  South 
Park  Commissioners.  In  this  message 
the  mayor  indicated  that  nearly  all 
of  Chicago's  lake  front  was  already 
dedicated  to  park  purposes,  to  the  ex- 
clusion of  navigation  which  may  re-" 
quire  harbor  accommodation  in  por- 
tions of  the  lake  front  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  city  as  a  port.  Accom- 
panying the  message  was  a  copy  of  a 
letter  from  the  mayor  to  the  Secre- 
tary of  War  asking  a  hearing  before 


permission  to  complete  the  park  plan 
should  be  granted.     *     *     * 

"Appended  are  copies  of  Mayor 
Busse's  message  to  the  city  coun- 
cil. *  *  * 

Message    of    Mayor    Busse. 

"It  is  a  notorious  fact  that  the  lake 
commerce  of  Chicago,  once  the  pride 
and  boast  of  this  city,  has  been  stead- 
ily decreasing.  *  *  *  The  one  and 
only  reason  for  Chicago's  decline  in 
this  respect  is  the  inconvenience  and 
inadequacy  of  its  harbor  facilities. 
*  *  *  The  time  has  come  when 
Chicago  must  decide  whether  it  will 
depend  for  the  future  entirely  upon 
the  harborage  afforded  by  the  Chicago 
River  and  the  Calumet  River  or 
whether  it  should  not  take  steps  to 
utilize  at  least  some  portion  of  its 
lake  front  for  shipping  purposes.  Leg- 
islation was  enacted  at  the  last  ses- 
sion of  the  General  Assembly,  which 
contemplates  turning  over  to  the  vari- 
ous park  boards,  practically  all  of  our 
lake  front  for  development  and  beau- 
tification  as  adjuncts  to  our  park  sys- 
tems. We  are  all  proud  of  our  splen- 
did system  of  parks  and  boulevards. 
We  all  want  to  see  them  grow,  but 
no  city,  and  particularly  no  strictly 
industrial  and  commercial  city,  such 
as  Chicago  is,  can  thrive  on  beautifi- 
cation  alone.  Lake  commerce  played 
a  large  part  in  making  Chicago  what 
it  is.  I  do  not  believe  it  wise  to  ig- 
nore entirely  that  advantage  which 
Chicago  has  by  reason  of  its  location, 
and  it  is  only  a  question  of  time  when 
that  advantage  will  be  lost,  unless  we 
secure  other  harborage  facilities  than 
those  afforded  by  the  Chicago  and 
Calumet  rivers.  If  lake  commerce 
cannot  find  convenient  accommodation 
at  Chicago,  it  will  go  to  the  harbors 
being  developed  just  over  the  state 
line  in  Indiana,  just  as  certainly  as 
water  runs  down  hill. 

"Practically  all  of  our  lake  front 
that  has  not  been  already  dedicated 
to  park  purposes  is  that  comparative- 
ly short  stretch  of  shore  line  between 
Twelfth  street  and  Jackson  Park.  Un- 
der the  legislation  enacted  last  spring, 
this  will  also  be  turned  over  to  the 
South  Park  Board  as  soon  as  the  War 
Department  gives  its  consent.  *  *  *" 

From  copy  of  Mayor  Busse's  letter 


to  the  Secretary  of  War   (page  7),  I 
quote: 

*  *  *  I  desire  particularly, 
however,  to  call  your  attention  to  one 
portion  of  this  plan  of  which  I  do  not 
approve;  that  is,  the  filling  in  of  the 
lake  on  the  lake  front  from  Twelfth 
street  to  Jackson  Park,  a  distance  of 
five  and  one-half  miles  in  length,  for 
some  little  distance  from  the  shore 
line,  for  park  purposes,  then  lagoons, 
and  beyond  more  park  land,  out  to  the 
navigable  water.  This  would  forever 
prevent  the  city,  should  it  wish  to  do 
so,  from  using  this  portion  of  its  lake 
front  for  docks  and  wharves  for  com- 
mercial purposes,  as  at  Duluth,  Cleve- 
land, Buffalo  and  other  ports.  *  *  * 
There  is  no  other  portion  of  our  lake 
front  that  could  be  used  for  this  pur- 
pose which  would  be  adequate.  *  *  * 

"The  Park  Commissioners  can,  at 
the  present  time,  ignore  the  commer- 
cial interests  of  the  city  of  Chicago 
in  this  matter  unless  the  city  be  as- 
sisted by  the  Federal  Government, 
acting  in  the  interests  of  general  com- 
merce and  navigation,  to  prevent  the 
loss  of  this  lake  frontage  and  for  com- 
mercial purposes  to  the  city  forever. 

"Chicago  has  developed  its  wonder- 
ful prosperity  from  its  commerce  and 
manufactures.  Its  future  growth,  both 
artistic  and  practical,  depends  upon 
its  commerce,  and  I  feel  that  its 
growth  and  prosperity  will  be  checked 
very  largely  forever  if  our  lake  com- 
merce Is  retarded  by  the  proposed 
plan  of  the  Commercial  Club  and  the 
Park  Commissioners  in  respect  to  the 
lake  front  from  Twelfth  street  to 
Jackson  Park.  *  *  *  The  Lake 
Carriers'  Association,  representing  the 
interests  of  the  entire  system  of  the 
Great  Lakes,  is  strongly  of  my  opin- 
ion." 

Harbor  Commission   Report. 

Returning  now  to  the  report  of  the 
Chicago  Harbor  Commission,  I  quote 
from  page  41: 

"The  question  now  presented  to  this 
community  is  whether  the  lake  front, 
from  Grant  Park  to  Jackson  Park, 
shall  be  permanently  dedicated  to 
park  purposes,  to  the  entire  exclusion 
of  harbor  development  and  of  naviga- 
tion. 

"While  the  Harbor  Commission  is 
not  prepared  to  make  an  affirmative 


8 


recommendation  as  to  the  extent  and 
nature  of  any  possible  harbor  develop- 
ment in  the  area  between  Grant  Park 
and  Jackson  Park,  it  does  believe 
most  strongly  that  no  park  develop- 
ment should  be  favored  which  will  for- 
ever prevent  the  possibility  of  utiliz- 
ing a  portion  of  this  area  for  harbor 
purposes.  *  *  * 

"It  has  been  pointed  out  by  advo- 
cates of  lake  front  harbor  develop- 
ment that  at  Sixteenth  street  seven- 
teen trunk  lines  are  located  within  a 
mile  of  the  lake  front.  Connections 
between  these  railroads  and  the  lake 
front  could  be  secured  by  possible  sub- 
way development,  or  by  the  existing 
overhead  rail  lines  running  to  the  lake 
front  at  Sixteenth  and  Forty-first 
streets,  which  lines  could  be  widened, 
if  necessary,  to  afford  adequate  track 
accommodations. 

"It  has  also  been  suggested  to  the 
Commission  that  utilization  of  the 
lake  front  for  navigation  purposes 
would  not  impose  upon  the  public  the 
necessity  of  condemning  the  rights  of 
riparian  owners  or  compensating 
them,  either  by  money  payments  or 
by  cessions  of  land.  *  *  *" 

On  November  20,  1911,  the  City 
Council  of  the  City  of  Chicago,  by 
unanimous  vote,  passed  five  ordi- 
nances creating  certain  harbor  dis- 
tricts. (Council  proceedings  pages 
1787  to  1792.) 

Harbor  District  No.  1  included  all  of 
the  Chicago  River  and  the  lake  front 
from  the  south  side  of  the  river  to 
Chicago  avenue  and  extended  lake- 
ward  one  mile. 

Harbor  District  No.  2  included  the 
lake  front  from  the  south  side  of  the 
river  to  the  south  side  of  Randolph 
street  and  extended  lakeward  one 
mile. 

Harbor  District  No.  3  included  the 
lake  front  from  the  south  side  of 
Grant  Park  to  the  south  side  of  31st 
street  and  extended  lakeward  one 
mile. 

Harbor  Districts  Nos.  4  and  5  in- 
cluded lands  and  waters  in  the  Calu- 
met District  of  Chicago. 

Section  3  of  the  ordinance  creating 
Harbor  District  No.  3  provided  (page 
1790): 

"Section  3.  The  aforesaid  lands  and 
submerged  lands  shall  be  acquired, 


owned,  used,  occupied  and  reclaimed 
by  the  City  of  Chicago  as  soon  as  may 
be  for  the  future  construction,  main- 
tenance and  operation  thereon  of  har- 
bors, canals,  wharves,  docks,  piers, 
slips,  levees  and  all  other  appropriate 
harbor  facilities  and  improvements 
and  operation  of  all  elevators,  vaults 
and  warehouses  (including  cold  stor- 
age warehouses),  as  may  be  a  neces- 
sary adjunct  or  incidental  to  trans- 
portation, and  all  other  necessary  and 
appropriate  harbor  and  terminal  facil- 
ities, as  authorized  and  provided  by 
the  aforesaid  Act  of  the  General  As- 
sembly of  the  State  of  Illinois." 

The  creation  of  Harbor  District  No. 
3  was  an  expression  by  the  agency  of 
the  State  of  Illinois,  the  City  Council 
of  the  City  of  Chicago,  of  the  need  of 
a  harbor  along  the  lake  front  from 
12th  to  31st  streets,  and,  so  far  as  it 
went,  was  in  harmony  with  General 
Bixby's  recommendation  above  quoted, 
even  to  the  extent  of  fixing  the  east- 
ern harbor  limit  at  one  mile  from 
shore — the  location  proposed  by  Gen- 
eral Bixby  for  the  protecting  govern- 
ment breakwater. 

The  Act  of  the  Assembly  last  re- 
ferred to  provides  that  the  grant  to 
the  city  of  the  submerged  lands  shall 
take  precedence  over  any  grant  of  the 
same  lands  to  the  park  authorities, 
provided  the  city  elects  to  use  such 
lands  for  harbor  purposes  before  the 
park  authorities  elects  to  use  them  for 
park  purposes.  At  date  of  passage  of 
ordinance  the  Park  Commissioners 
had  not  taken  action  with  respect  to 
the  submerged  lands  embraced  in  said 
Harbor  District  No.  3  and  the  City  of 
Chicago  and  the  public  harbor  had 
precedence. 

"Chicago  Plan"  an  Impractical  Dream. 

The  Chicago  Plan  has  been  looked 
upon  as  a  divinely  inspired  document 
handed  down  from  on  high  with  about 
the  same  degree  of  authenticity  as  the 
Book  of  Psalms,  or  Deuteronomy,  or 
the  Revelations  of  St.  John  the  Divine. 
It  is  a  copyrighted,  patented,  ready- 
made  scheme,  a  purple  dream  of  land- 
scape and  waterscape  gardening  that 
was  not  made  by  any  official  govern- 
ment body,  but  that  was  prepared  at 
great  expense  and  carefully  promoted 
and  foisted  upon  the  public  by  a  body 
of  self-appointed  guardian  angels  of 


9 


Chicago's  destiny.  These  gentlemen 
were  never  known  before  to  be  guilty 
of  such  reckless  generosity  and  public 
spirit  and  at  the  time  the  so-called 
Chicago  Plan  was  first  promulgated  it 
was  a  matter  of  general  wonder  why 
these  gentlemen  were  so  suddenly  and 
tremendously  solicitous  for  the  wel- 
fare of  the  dear  people.  The  real  pur- 
pose of  the  Chicago  Plan  and  its  pub- 
lic-spirited promoters  did  not  become 
known  until  this  Illinois  Central-South 
Park  contract  was  smoked  out  of  its 
hiding  place  by  the  ordinance  for  Har- 
bor District  No.  3.  Thus  the  Chicago 
Plan,  with  its  purple  tinted  dreams  is 
seen  to  be  but  a  ruse  and  a  means  of 
bringing  about  a  great  steal  of  public 
lands,  and  our  idol's  feet  are  made  of 
clay. 

Personally,  I  should  like  to  see  the 
$2,000,000  cash  of  our  small  parks 
money  that  the  South  Park  Board  has 
been  playing  with  for  five  years — I 
would  like  to  see  this  spent  for  the 
purpose  for  which  the  bonds  were  is- 
sued, instead  of  building  a  breakwater 
to  protect  the  I.  C.  tracks  that  will 
cost  more  than  that  sum. 

The  Supreme  Court  has  decided  in 
the  Grant  Park  case,  to  which  Mont- 
gomery Ward  was  a  party,  that  land 
once  dedicated  for  park  purposes  can- 
not be  used  for  other  purposes.  The 
contracts  between  the  Illinois  Central 
and  the  South  Park  Board  have  al- 
ways been  careful  to  state  "for  park 
purposes,"  instead  of  "for  public  pur- 
poses." So  that,  no  matter  what 
promises  are  made,  once  the  lake 
front  is  given  up  to  the  South  Park 
Board  its  uses  for  harbor  purposes  are 
gone  forever. 

The  city  and  state  authorities  and 
the  people  place  great  confidence  in 
the  War  Department.  It  cannot  be 
used  as  a  convenient  tool  for  wealthy 
interests,  as  can  most  of  our  other 
governing  bodies.  Therefore  it  is  with 
confidence  and  hope  that  we  appeal  to 
the  War  Department  to  refuse  the 
permit  for  this  scheme  that  will  not 
only  destroy  the  lake  front  for  its 
highest  and  best  uses — navigation, 
fisheries,  bathing  beaches,  etc.,  but 
that  will  consummate  the  biggest  steal 
of  public  lands  and  public  rights  in 
the  history  of  this  state.  While  the 
department's  chief  concern  is  with 
navigation,  the  permit  is  requested  for 


a  certain  alleged  purpose.  The  park 
plans  are  sketched  out  on  the  plat 
accompanying  the  request,  and  as 
such  these  plans  are  included  legiti- 
mately in  this  discussion. 
Park  Act  Drawn  by  R.  R.  Attorney. 
The  legislative  act  empowering  the 
South  Park  Board  to  make  these  lake 
front  contracts  was  drawn  by  Mr. 
John  G.  Drennan,  attorney  for  the  Illi- 
nois Central  Railroad. 

The  Illinois  Central  has  always 
taken  a  lively  interest  in  legislative 
proceedings,  but  never  before  in  such 
a  humanitarian  manner.  And  it  is 
difficult  to  picture  the  railroad  at- 
torney sweating  and  laboring  and 
burning  the  midnight  oil  in  framing 
up  this  legislation  for  the  benefit  of 
the  dear  public  and  the  South  Park 
board.  Why  this  sudden  generosity? 
Yet  we  must  believe  it,  for  we  find 
on  page  1161  of  the  Chicago  City 
Council  Proceedings  of  September  27, 
1909,  an  opinion  of  Howard  M.  Hayes, 
assistant  corporation  counsel,  on  the 
South  Park  Act.  He  says,  among  other 
things:  "My  conclusion  on  this  sub- 
ject is  concurred  in  by  Mr.  R.  C.  Hol- 
lett,  who  was  attorney  for  the  South 
Park  Commissioners  at  the  time  the 
Act  of  1907  was  introduced  in  the  leg- 
islature as  well  as  by  Mr.  John  G. 
Drennan,  who  assisted  in  the  drafting 
of  the  bill."  This  was  in  1909,  when 
Mr.  Hayes  was  young  and  guileless. 
But  his  testimony  is  unimpeachable, 
for  since  that  time  his  ability  has  been 
so  conspicuous  that  it  has  won  him  a 
place  in  the  firm  of  Redfield,  Sexton 
&  Tolman,  expert  municipal  and  park 
attorneys,  with  side  lines  for  secur- 
ing favorable  ordinances  for  sub- 
j  sidewalk  users  and  the  notorious  Mar- 
;  shall  Field  Washington  Street  base- 
ment grab.  Thus  are  we  hoist  upon 
our  own  petard. 

After  the  Illinois  Central  had  se- 
cured the  passage  of  the  desired  park 
legislation,  it  waited  for  a  few  years 
until  the  right  kind  of  accommodat- 
ing gentlemen  were  appointed  upon 
the  park  board.  They  are  there  now, 
mostly  stock  yards  financiers,  stock' 
yards  bankers,  stock  yards  lawyers, 
and  other  stock  yards  hangers-on. 
The  stock  yards  railroad,  the  Chicago 
Junction  Railroad,  connects  with  the 
Illinois  Central  at  about  41st  Street. 


10 


The  contract,  which  is  under  discus- 
sion, became  known  only  when  the 
creation  of  Harbor  District  No.  3 
threatened  to  thwart  the  lake  front 
steal.  Then  pictures  of  the  Chicago 
plan  were  published,  and  the  Mayor 
was  induced  to  veto  the  measure. 
Scheme  Repudiated  by  City  Council. 

It  was  my  privilege  and  pleasure  to 
show  up  the  steal  to  the  City  Council 
Committee  who  thereupon  repudiated 
an  ordinance  confirming  the  contract. 
Then  Judge  Honore  heard  the  ca~e. 
You  see  the  legislation  was  carefully 
drawn,  and  allowed  several  different 
ways  to  confirm  the  contracts.  The 
judge  confirmed  the  contracts  in  spite 
of  the  protests  of  the  objecting  tax 
payers.  I  am  pleased  to  state  that  49 
per  cent  of  this  judge's  decisions  are 
reversed  on  appeal,  according  to  Chi- 
cago Tribune  statistics. 

The  City  Council  had  passed  a  reso- 
lution condemning  the  contract,  which 
the  mayor  also  kindly  vetoed,  and  then 
the  council  passed  an  order  requesting 
the  Secretary  of  War  and  Chief  of 
Engineers  not  to  grant  any  permits 
for  filling  the  lake  front  without  a 
public  hearing.  The  city  beautiful  ag- 
gregation found  this  order  awaiting 
them  in  Washington  last  summer,  and 
the  Secretary  of  War  also  told  them 
that  he  had  no  authority  under  the 
law  to  grant  the  permit.  (This  was 
the  first  permit  recently  granted.)  The 
"city  beautiful"  planners  then  found 
a  congressman  sufficiently  accommo- 
dating who  had  a  bill  passed  in  jig 
time.  Then  the  public  hearing  was 
held  and  the  permit  granted.  The 
principal  gain  under  the  first  permit 
was  the  location  of  the  Field  Museum 
at  12th  Street.  This  chief  piece  of 
scenery  gained,  there  remains  now  no 
good  reason  for  spoiling  the  rest  of 
the  south  side  lake  front.  I  was  at 
first  greatly  disappointed  but  now  it 
seems  that  the  federal  engineers  are 
going  to  take  all  that  is  good  in  the 
scheme  and  reject  all  that  is  bad. 
Supreme  Court  Decisions. 

In  Vol.  146  U.  S.  Supreme  Court 
Reports,  pages  376-476,  covering  cases 
Illinois  Central  v.  The  People,  City  of 
Chicago  v.  The  Illinois  Central  and 
the  State  of  Illinois  v.  The  Illinois 
Central  we  find  the  following  deci- 
sions: 


"The  bed  or  soil  of  navigable  waters 
is  held  by  the  people  of  the  state  in 
their  character  as  sovereign  in  trust 
for  public  uses  for  which  they  are 
adapted.  *  *  *  It  is  a  title  held  in 
trust  for  the  people  of  the  state  that 
they  may  enjoy  the  navigation  of  the 
waters,  carry  on  commerce  over  them, 
and  have  liberty  of  fishing  therein. 
*  *  * 

Parcels  of  land  may  be  granted  for 
docks,  wharves,  etc.,"  but  that  is  a 
very  different  doctrine  from  the  one 
which  would  sanction  the  abdication 
of  the  general  control  of  the  state 
over  lands  under  the  navigable  waters 
of  an  entire  harbor  or  bay,  or  of  a  sea 
or  lake.  Such  abdication  is  not  con- 
sistent with  the  exercise  of  that  trust 
which  requires  the  government  of  the 
state  to  preserve 'such  waters  for  the 
use  of  the  public."  *  *  * 

Here  is  a  section  that  applies  par- 
ticularly to  this  case: 

"In  the  administration  of  govern- 
ment the  use  of  such  powers  may  for 
a  limited  period  be  delegated  to  a 
municipality  or  other  body,  but  there 
always  remains  with  the  state  the 
right  to  revoke  such  powers  and  exer- 
cise them  in  a  more  direct  manner, 
and  one  more  conformable  to  its 
wishes."  *  *  * 

State  Given  Water  Front  in  1818. 

In  1818  when  Illinois  was  admitted 
to  the  Union  as  a  state  it  was  at 
first  intended  that  the  northern 
boundary  line  should  be  on  a  line 
with  the  south  end  of  Lake  Michigan. 
This  city  would  then  be  in  Wisconsin. 
Congressman  Nathaniel  Pope  saw  the 
necessity  of  a  water  front  for  Illinois. 
In  1816  the  treaty  of  Black  Partridge 
had  given  Uncle  Sam  a  strip  of  land 
twenty  miles  wide  including  both  the 
Chicago  and  Calumet  Rivers,  and  ex- 
tending from  Lake  Michigan  to  the 
junction  of  the  Kankakee  River  and 
Des  Plaines  River.  In  1818  Congress- 
man Pope  had  the  present  boundary 
fixed  and  thus  won  over  sixty  miles 
of  water  front  for  Illinois  in  order 
that  the  Lakes  to  the  Gulf  waterway* 
and  its  lake  termini  should  be  largely 
in  this  state,  and  that  each  of  the 
I  states  near  the  lake  might  have  water 
frontage,  Illinois,  as  well  as  Michigan, 
Indiana  and  Wisconsin. 


11 


In  1852  the  Illinois  Central  stole  its 
present  right-of-way  most  of  the  dis- 
tance from  51st  Street  to  the  Chicago 
River.  Except  for  a  few  points  that 
ran  out  in  the  lake,  across  which  the 
railroad  had  to  buy  its  right  of  way, 
the  road  was  built  on  piles  in  the  lake 
from  300  to  600  feet  from  the  shore. 
The  intervening  space  has  been  filled 
in  since  with  debris,  ashes,  etc.  The 
ruins  of  the  great  Chicago  fire  fur- 
nished a  great  part  of  the  material. 
I.  C.  Has  No  Shore  Title. 

The  Supreme  Court  has  repeatedly 
decided  against  the  railroad  in  suits 
as  to  its  title.  The  suit  in  which  my 
friends  and  I  are  parties  will  soon  be 
taken  to  the  Supreme  Court.  The  City 
and  State  are  also  suing  the  road  and 
deny  its  title  to  a  great  part  of  its 
right-of-way.  Honorable  Theodore  K. 
Long  has  signed  an  opinion  that  the 
railroad  is  a  trespasser,  therefore  1 
am  inclined  to  believe  that  the  Su- 
preme Court  is  right  in  the  matter. 
It  is  manifestly  improper  to  settle 
these  cases  out  of  court  while  they 
are  still  pending  and  thus  help  this 
steal. 

Now,  it  is  proposed  by  this  contract 
and  this  permit  that  will  consummate 
it,  not  only  to  confirm  the  Illinois  Cen- 
tral in  its  present  illegal  holdings,  but 
to  give  to  the  road  upwards  of  67 
acres  more  land  worth  millions  of 
dollars  in  exchange  for  alleged  ripa- 
rian rights  which  Alderman  Long  and 
the  Supreme  Court  say  do  not  exist. 
Therefore  this  entire  deal  is  a  tre- 
mendous steal  planned  by  and  for  the 
Illinois  Central,  and  everyone,  know- 
ing this,  who  assists  in  it  is  not  only 
a  common  criminal,  but  is  disloyal  to 
his  city,  an  enemy  of  the  state,  and  a 
traitor  to  his  country. 

100  Years  to  Complete  Plan. 

It  is  proposed  to  build  parkways, 
boulevards,  lagoons,  etc.,  and  to  plant 
and  maintain  trees  and  shrubbery 
along  the  five-mile  stretch  between 
Grant  Park  and  Jackson  Park.  The 
Illinois  Central-Grant  Park  scheme 
was  perpetrated  in  1895,  eighteen 
years  ago.  Grant  Park,  which  should 
be  docks,  wharves  and  slips,  has  for 
eighteen  years  been  the  city  dump,  a 
mecca  for  tramps  and  a  place  of  as- 
signation for  abandoned  women.  The 
park  board  is  now  building  a  disposal 


station  there — shades  of  John  Barton 
Payne,  a  disposal  station  in  a  park! 
The  Lord  only  knows  how  many  more 
years  it  will  take  to  make  it  a  park.  It 
may  be  for  years  and  it  may  be  for- 
ever. 

The  same  body  proposes  to  park  the 
lake  front  for  five  miles  south  to  Jack- 
son Park.  Assuming  the  same  con- 
spicuous success  in  park  making  as 
has  been  the  case  at  Grant  Park  it  is 
conservatively  estimated  that  the  city 
beautiful  dream  cannot  come  true 
within  a  hundred  years,  five  times 
twenty,  or  some  time  along  about  A. 
D.  2015  or  2020. 

Then  again,  all  the  cost  of  this 
dream  park  must  be  borne  by  the 
South  Side.  It  is  planned  to  move  the 
shore  line  about  4,000  feet  east.  This 
is  nearly  a  mile.  The  cost  will  mount 
into  the  hundreds  of  millions,  and  tre- 
mendous maintenance  cost  for  up- 
keep and  protection  for  the  long  shore 
line,  which  item  will  also  be  saved  to 
the  Illinois  Central  in  addition  to  the 
67-acre  land  gift.  But  there  is  no  as- 
surance the  people  will  ratify  a  bond 
issue  to  pay  for  this  nightmare  of  a 
scheme.  The  entire  plan  is  conceived 
in  corruption,  its  progress  has  been 
through  a  maze  of  secret  meetings, 
underhand  agreements,  disregard  for 
public  rights,  and  insolence  in  the  face 
of  the  expressed  harbor  plans  of  the 
City  Council  and  the  Federal  engi- 
neers. If  the  people  of  the  South  Park 
district  refuse  to  ratify  a  bond  issue 
to  pay  for  this  idiotic  outer  park,  the 
net  result  will  be  67  acres  additional 
to  the  Illinois  Central  nuisance,  a  per- 
petual and  legalized  barrier  between 
Chicago  and  the  lake,  and  the  people 
will  get  nothing. 

Threatens  Malfeasance  Suit. 
I  desire  at  this  time  to  make  a  few 
remarks  directly  to  every  public  offi- 
cial connected  with  this  steal.  Here- 
tofore my  friends  and  I  have  confined 
ourselves  to  fighting  this  steal  at 
every  turn  in  the  City  Council,  in  the 
Circuit  Court,  at  Washington,  and  here 
before  the  engineers.  We  have  laid 
bare  all  the  facts,  they  have  not  been 
denied,  they  cannot.  Everyone  who 
has  followed  this  matter  must  know 
by  this  time  that  this  plan  is  a  shame- 
ful attempt  to  steal  public  property 
and  to  present  it  to  the  Illinois  Cen- 


12 


tral  Railroad,  who  will  doubtless  di- 
vide the  spoils  proportionately.  A 
part  of  the  lake  front  may  legitimately 
be  used  for  park  purposes,  but  not 
all  of  it.  I,  for  one,  am  getting  tired 
of  giving  my  time  and  energy  and 
money  to  fight  a  combination  of  rail- 
road thieves  and  public  officials,  who 
should  safeguard  the  public  rights  in- 
stead of  betraying  their  trust.  Mr. 
Van  Vlissingen  and  I  and  our  lawyer, 
Mr.  Levering,  are  preparing  to  take 
this  matter  to  the  Supreme  Court  of 
Illinois.  We  will  do  this  as  soon  as 
the  lapse  of  time  shall  forfeit  all 
grants  to  the  Field  museum  under  the 
will,  while  the  Illinois  Central  fails  to 
deed  the  site  free  of  all  encumbrance. 

Our  next  move  will  be  to  sue  the 
South  Park  Commissioners  for  mal- 
feasance in  office.  Personally,  I  can- 
not imagine  these  gentlemen  of  the 
stock  yards  presenting  67  acres  to  the 
Illinois  Central  unless  there  is  a  quid 
pro  quo.  A  good  size  switch  yard  for 
cattle  cars  on  the  lake  front  near  41st 
street  seems  to  me  to  be  the  most 
likely  perquisite. 

Every  organization  in  Chicago  that 
has  considered  this  matter  in  meet- 
ings attended  by  the  general  member- 
ship, has  protested  against  it.  The 
Chicago  Association  of  Commerce  and 
the  Chicago  Real  Estate  Board,  noto- 
riously representative  of  the  wealthy 
interests  only,  are  the  only  bodies 
that  have  approved  it.  Even  this,  I 
understand,  was  a  star  chamber  pro- 
ceeding, merely  the  action  of  the 
board  of  directors. 

Organizations    Opposing    Lake    Front 

Steal. 

In  open  meetings  after  full  discus- 
sion and  consideration  the  following 
bodies  have  protested  against  the 
project  for  which  a  permit  is  now 
sought  from  your  department:  The 
Greater  Chicago  Federation  (com- 
posed of  delegates  from  upwards  of 
40  civic  and  business  men's  clubs  in 
Chicago),  the  Cook  County  Press  Club 
(representing  over  80  local  editors 
and  publishers),  the  Cook  County  Real 
Estate  Board  (whose  representative  is 
here),  the  South  Chicago  Business 
Men's  Association,  the  South  End 
Business  Men's  Association,  the  Chi- 
cago Federation  of  Labor,  other  civic 
bodies  that  I  do  not  recall,  and  a  host 


of  private  citizens.  I  represent  sev- 
eral of  these  organizations.  They  do 
not  all  have  time  to  follow  around 
these  lake  front  thieves  in  various 
courts,  offices  and  other  parts  of  the 
country,  but  they  are  all  on  record 
against  this  project. 

Most  of  the  people  of  Chicago  have 
never  had  a  chance  to  know  what  they 
have  been  cheated  out  of  by  the  Illi- 
nois Central.  Those  of  you  who  have 
been  to  Atlantic  City,  or  in  a  smaller 
way  as  may  be  seen  at  Windsor  Park, 
can  understand  the  possibilities.  Fam- 
ilies go  to  the  beach  and  spend  the 
day  in  the  sand,  on  the  piers,  under 
the  trees,  boating,  bathing  and  enjoy- 
ing the  magnificent  health-giving,  life- 
saving  lake.  Between  51st  street  and 
the  river  the  railroad  has  stolen  the 
entire  lake  front.  They  have  fooled 
the  Legislature,  conspired  with  the 
park  board,  evaded  the  City  Council 
and  cheated  the  public. 

I.  C.  Plans  Described. 

The  Chicago  Examiner  of  June  28, 
1912,  describes  a  great  terminal  for 
13  railroads  contingent  upon  the  con- 
summation of  the  Illinois  Central- 
South  Park  contract.  These  include, 
we  are  informed,  the  present  roads 
using  the  Illinois  Central  station:  The 
Illinois  Central,  Minneapolis,  St.  Paul 
&  Sault  Ste.  Marie;  Cleveland,  Cincin- 
nati, Chicago  &  St.  Louis;  the  Mich- 
igan Central;  South  Shore  Interurban 
and  nine  other  railroads  now  using 
"two  great  railroad  stations  in  the 
heart  of  Chicago,  to  be  abandoned." 
This  gives  us  an  idea  of  how  our  lake 
front  will  look  with  67  more  acres  of 
trains,  soot,  smoke,  switch  tracks  and 
puffing  engines  between  us  and  the 
proposed  parkway,  which  will  further 
remove  the  lake  a  distance  of  over 
4,000  feet  from  the  nearest  existing 
roadway. 

Parks  Now  Kill  Navigation. 

Railroads  used  to  run  along  water- 
ways with  their  own  tracks  to  shut  off 
the  people  from  possible  access  to 
navigation.  Nowadays  they  get  park 
boards  to  assist  a  fool  public  to  cut 
itself  off  from  navigation  by  building 
cement  walled  automobile  speedways 
along  the  water  fronts  while  children 
cry  for  the  sand  and  tired  mothers 
view  the  lake  through  a  vista  of  rail- 
road tracks  and  smoke  or  speeding 


13 


automobiles  and  the  sacred  odor  of 
gasoline.  Parks  can  be  built  any- 
where, navigation  and  harbors  only 
where  the  deep  water  is. 

The  crime  of  1912-13  is  almost  ac- 
complished to  take  its  place  in  history 
with  the  crime  of  "  "52,"  the  crime  of 
"  "69,"  and  the  crime  of  "  "95." 

A  doctor  tending  a  patient  would 
not  let  a  thief  steal  a  watch  from  un- 
der the  pillow.  So  the  War  Depart- 
ment, although  considering  only  navi- 
gation, should  not  permit  this  gigantic 
theft,  this  grand  larceny,  to  proceed 
unchecked.  Do  not  allow  this  old  man 
of  the  sea  to  throttle  the  port  of  Chi- 


cago. Do  not  let  us  lose  our  grandest 
and  best  asset.  Let  us  not  commit 
commercial  suicide  for  insincere 
dreams  that  will  never  come  true. 
Let  us  not  cut  off  our  own  good  right 
arm.  t 

Suggestion. 

The  city  council  should  at  once  con- 
demn desired  streets  across  the  I.  C. 
tracks  to  the  lake  shore  and  compel 
the  I.  C.  to  elevate,  like  every  other 
railroad  in  Chicago. 

Then  the  people  would  have  free 
access  to  the  lake  shore,  which  could 
be  improved  at  will. 


14 


100 


